Playboy is making news because the 62-year-old magazine won’t be showing up all nude anymore. Sure, 62 is about the same time that many mature adults lose confidence in their completely nude appearance, but Playboy is making a business decision — not a vain one. The nudity for public consumption it pioneered was given a steroidal rocket boost by the Internet — and Playboy just can’t keep up. It’s rebranding.
But speaking of the Internet, an unexpected thing happened, according to reports. When Playboy stopped using nude photos on its website (long before announcing this change in the print magazine) it saw a huge boost in visitor numbers. Traffic quadrupled as the Playboy brand rebuilt itself as a stylemaker and tastemaker — and a journalistic player — in an online environment hungry for “influencers.”
